The informal writing style and the numerous illustrative examples make the book accessible to readers of varying backgrounds. Notes at the end of each chapter expand the discussion and provide additional technical detail and references. Moreover, most chapters contain an extended example in which the authors work through one of the chapter's examples in detail to aid readers in conducting similar analyses with their own data. This approach helps less mathematically-inclined readers to grasp the underlying relations among path analysis, factor analysis, and structural equation modeling, and to set up and carry out such analyses.